Sound of the Month
The sound of the month is…
tomato plants!
Did you know that plants produce sounds?!
This is a recording of ultrasonic sounds made by stressed out tomato plants. The plants make more sounds when they are dehydrated. The sounds were moved down into the human range of hearing, and there is compression on the spaces between sounds to create a shorter file.
Source: Khait et al 2023
Previous Sounds of the Month
Sound of the Month
The sound of the month is…
a reef fish grunting!
The static sound is snapping shrimp, and the grunting sound is a fish! I recorded this fish off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. This recording and spectrogram are featured in my paper on nighttime fish sounds and in my song Night Fish. The grey image you see is the spectrogram of the sound – a visualization of the sound in which the x axis is time, the y axis is sound frequency (~pitch), and the darker the color, the more intense the sound is. Can you match low grunts of the fish with the dark splots on the spectrogram? You can learn more about interpreting these sounds in the free Ocean World of Sound 30 Day Challenge.
The sound of the month is…
7 month old human!
Flashback to a conversation I had with my daughter when she was 7 months old. Babies have amazing and broad abilities to explore pitch and other aspects of vocalizing, which they gradually “lose” as they increasingly focus on what is important in the language they are learning to speak.
The sound of the month was…
spiny lobster!
Spiny lobsters rub their antenna on their head sort of like playing a stringed instrument, creating a scratchy sound. In this underwater recording I collected near Isla Contoy, Mexico, you can hear the crackling sound of snapping shrimp and several clear spiny lobster scratches!
The sound of the month was…
the MesoAmerican Coral Reef during the full moon.
Feel free to listen to a little, or a lot, or put it on loop as a calming background for working!
Want to listen to more? Browse music related posts below
Science and Music expedition in Cancun
Ocean World of Sound is centered in the Mexican Caribbean, and we had very productive site visits in the Marine Protected Areas around Cancun earlier this month. Highlights included a concert on the catamaran Beluga, with live cello and live underwater sounds, and scouting for two new research sites in collaboration with the National Parks…
Nature Music App
Following on the success of my Nature Music class on studio.com, we now have a Nature Music coaching app. My relationship with Studio started when I took Ryan Tedder’s course, back when Studio was called Monthly. I liked the accountability of that experience, with actual due dates and very specific goals. This app experience evokes…
World Premier by Washington Saxophone Quartet
My composition equilibrium 1.4 written for the Washington Saxophone Quartet, will be premiered at their February 22nd Concert in Vienna Virginia. I plan to attend the concert and hope to see you there! Inspired by Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) Fantasia Upon One Note, “equilibrium 1.4” explores scientific patterns of stability, fluctuation and resilience, and the harmonization of noise….
Zooxantela: Listening to Coral Bleaching at Mexico City Art Week
February 3–6, 2026Casa de Representación del Gobierno de Quintana RooAv. Álvaro Obregón 161, Roma Norte, CDMXOpen to the public, Invitation only for events During Mexico City Art Week 2026, Zooxantela will transform the Casa de Representación del Gobierno de Quintana Roo (office of the Government of the State of Quintana Roo) into an immersive, full-building…
FLOW: a new sci-art collaboration
I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been chosen as a composer for FLOW, a science–art collaboration that explores the Lech river, a tributary of the Danube. “Past, present, and future flow together as artists transform field recordings, research and satellite images into a recomposed interpretation of the life of a river. The river’s story, reimagined…
New solo piano album!
I’m excited to announce the upcoming release of my new album of solo piano originals “Beneath the Surface: Piano Reflections.” Flowy and meditative, with catchy melodies, I will not be offended if you catch up on emails, clean the house, or take a nap while listening. The ten songs include some of my fan favorites…